This is my worse nightmare, a fire starting while I'm not home and the fire brigade being called to put it out, discovering it was caused by a grow. Definitely even those of us with the smallest set up need to be aware and make sure we got our shit setup right. I've never seen it but it's something that could potentially hit any of us on here
This is why my ranch is never left unattended not even for a minute. There's a lot of things that can start a fire especially in this business.
We had a wild fire brush up within 100 yards of our ranch a couple years ago. That one burned 64,000 square acres here in CO. So aside from natural or outside causes there's a lot of things to look out for.
I have built and consulted for grow builds for years. For my own grows I usually run fresh circuit breakers, new wires and new outlets for all of my equipment. This way I know I don't have to worry about bad wires or bad wiring jobs.
As far as circuit breakers being the save-all if something goes wrong, you cannot rely on those alone. Like some said above, especially if you're using more than 15a breakers..
Here's a fire I prevented just last summer. For those of you who use these style timers -
Notice this one actually says not to use with digital ballasts. Most of them don't have this warning. These are pretty easy to overload if you're not careful.
Another measure I take is to put a layer of aluminum foil between all my big 1000w lights and the ceiling.
Also a layer of aluminum foil above my CO2 burner, anything that puts out significant amounts of heat that's near anything even slightly flammable gets covered with layers of foil.
All extension cords (I avoid these like the plague but sometimes you have no choice) I follow similar procedures as when I was a mechanic working in auto repair shops. If the cords have to be unplugged frequently I will tie two knots in each end and to each other so the plugs don't come apart easily. Otherwise if they are more permanent I will secure the ends together with knots and electrical tape.
I run a lot of hydroponics sites in which case I take extra precautions to make sure no electrical cords are on the floors, all ballasts, power strips, everything off the floor.
I use old milk crates to keep ballasts off the floor if they can't be hung from the ceiling or something.
Another thing some people don't think about is foliar feeding/spraying your plants with MH or HPS bulbs above your head. Be VERY careful not to hit these bulbs with any spray you are using. I have had to fire guys for this. One guy sprayed and got a nice shower of MH bulb guts all over himself and killed 2 plants when a MH bulb exploded over his head because he got it wet from overspray. The dust from the bulb literally killed the 2 plants that were under it in less than 24 hours after it happened. It was just like someone sprayed roundup on them. So I could just imagine what that stuff does to your body.
I've seen MH and HPS bulbs explode from having oily residue on them, as well, so it's a good idea to clean them off frequently especially if you run open hoods.
That's most all that I can think of for fire safety. The rest is (un)common sense I would say.
A good CO2 fire extinguisher near by may save your life some day. Expensive but won't ruin your equipment if you actually have to use it.
